


Making Waves

by WhatSoMalfoy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dumbledore's Armada: A Riddikulus Flash Competition, Expecting Luna, F/M, Fluff, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Married Luna and Neville, Misuse of Muggle Artefacts, Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, Trouble with the Ministry, electronics gone wrong, hand mixer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:22:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29292837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatSoMalfoy/pseuds/WhatSoMalfoy
Summary: After alittleincident at a local lake, Luna and Neville sit through an informal interview with Arthur Weasley, who enjoys getting to the bottom of things.
Relationships: Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood
Comments: 21
Kudos: 15
Collections: A Riddikulus Flash Competition





	Making Waves

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [RiddikulusComp](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/RiddikulusComp) collection. 



> Thank you to my beta for helping me sort through ideas and then making this piece something I can be happy with. You're a darling! 
> 
> **Prompt:**
> 
> Department of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts (place)

"Mr and Mrs Longbottom," Arthur Weasley steepled his fingers and leaned over his desk, facing the couple in front of him. It felt extremely strange to address his children's friends so formally, but alas, the situation they had found themselves in was... sticky to say the least. "Do you understand why you are here?"

"Yes," said Neville, colour heating his cheeks.

"No," Luna mused, her eyes flitting around the small office. Arthur had given up trying to guess which particular work or personal items she would find the most interesting.

"Well, do you remember the small incident at the lake a month ago?"

"Which one?" Luna asked, her hands smoothing over the sweater on her rounding stomach. 

Neville's left eye twitched as he took his wife's hand in his and squeezed— just once, asking her to please be silent, just for a moment. Even if Arthur Weasley was on their side, one wrong move or comment, when you put them all together— could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Luna looked to Neville, her hand stilling on the highest point of her belly, and tipped her head to the side. Neville sighed in relief when she remained silent.

"Err, so— last month, you both visited Goldiggins quarry frequented by Muggles in Bodmin Moor. And, well... would you like to tell me what happened?"

Luna looked to Neville, unsure if she should start their story or if he should. Neville opened his mouth and closed it again. He shot Luna a nervous look but deferred to her anyway. 

Luna immediately started rubbing her hands over the round protrusion that was her stomach and growing baby and launched into the story. "It was such a warm day, Mr Weasley— if I have my days correct, and I believe I do,” Luna took a moment to ponder, making sure she did have her days in order. “Height of summer, it was. The sun was shining so strongly, so warm and bright— offering us it's love and blessing…” Luna’s smile was so radiant, she could have been the sun itself. “But you see, the baby, she kicks like a Blibbering Humdinger when we're too warm,” Luna looked to her husband, her smile widening, “so I said to Neville, I said 'darling, we have to go swimming' so we did. We walked down the short trail to the local swimming spot and the water, Mr Weasley, it was cool and smooth— so welcoming on a day like that. The baby and I felt instant relief, but well, you see—"

"There were a lot of children at the lake— being such a warm day and all," Neville shifted in his seat, his discomfort palpable. "Children and their parents. And, well, we err, we could hear that the children were less than thrilled with their location. That they would have preferred..." releasing Luna's hand, Neville gestured through the air, hoping that Arthur would catch on.

He did not.

Picking up where Neville left off, Luna started again. "The children wished to be at the beach, Mr Weasley. They wanted the saltwater, the seagulls, and the _waves."_

"Yes," Neville picked up again, "they wanted waves, they wanted a more normal beach experience. The cool, still waters of lake something was not enough for them, and well— we've been rather in tune to the wants and needs of children of late. We just wanted to help them to have a good time—"

"— And to help their parents relax, knowing that their children were happy—"

"— Yes, well, so then we had an idea—"

"— Wait, Neville, I'm sorry," Arthur leaned back in his chair, his hands gripping at its arms. "Are you suggesting that this was all in the vein of helping Muggle children have a good time?"

"Of course, Mr Weasley. What else would you think we were doing?"

"Well, Mrs Longbottom, that is what we are here to find out. Please continue with this fascinating story," Arthur popped a sweet in his mouth, offering the jar to Luna and Neville respectively. Luna took her time choosing which colour of hard sweet she would like, finally settling on an orange one. Neville declined.

"I hope it's Dirigible Plum," Luna said, unwrapping the plastic and placing the lolly in her mouth. With a frown, she said, "Oh, it's orange." 

"Yes, well," continued Neville, "Luna had this wonderful idea. She thought that if the children wanted waves, that we, as magical folk, could provide them with those waves."

"But of course, we couldn't just use our wands or magic. There are rules against that you know," Luna nodded towards Arthur solemnly. 

Arthur had the distinct impression that Luna had no idea which office she was currently sitting in. "Yes, Mrs Longbottom... I am aware."

Neville shifted in his seat again, offering his wife an indulgent and loving smile, he let his hand linger on her stomach for a moment before pulling back. "So, we thought for a moment on what we could do for our little friends— to make their day more pleasurable."

"Yes, and _then_ I remembered our wedding gift from Hermione's parents. It really was so sweet and thoughtful of them to send a gift, wasn't it, Nev?"

Neville nodded. "It was— but we had no idea what to do with this gift— even after they explained that it was for mixing things. I mean, really— what would we need to mix? And it has this long string thing coming out of it, buttons that do nothing, you understand, Mr Weasley. We thought that maybe this was the perfect time to put it to use."

Arthur flipped through his notes, landing on the page with a diagram and description of the Muggle item in question. "Is this the gift you received from Mr and Mrs Granger on your wedding day?"

Luna gently took the parchment from Arthur Weasley, looking over the picture carefully before handing it over to Neville. 

"Yes," she nodded. "I believe so, a hand-mixer, is it called? I don't understand that. Nothing about it operates by hand, Mr Weasley— none of it."

"Yes, quite..." Arthur trailed off, looking to Neville for confirmation. Neville offered a nod. "So, a hand-mixer it was, then. And without eeeelek-trisssetee, how did you get it to work, exactly?" Arthur looked almost eager to hear the story, leaning against his desk with his hands clasped in front of him.

"Well, you see... I was reluctant to leave Luna on her own for long, so when I was a safe distance away, I Disapparated back home, found the hand... thing, and apparated back to the lake— well out of sight and earshot, sir, I assure you. Then I found my way back to Luna, pulled it all out of the box, figured out where to put the metal bits, and just... stuck it in the water."

"Then what happened?" Arthur’s quill was poised over the parchment, ink dripping in anticipation, making blots that he'd have to siphon away later. 

"Well, nothing," Luna shrugged, "nothing at all."

"So we realised that we maybe had to do something with that string, so we stuck it in the sand by the shore."

A smile lit up on Arthur's face. "I take it that neither of you took Muggle Studies during your time at Hogwarts?"

"Er, no," Neville answered, a blush creeping up his neck.

"Have we done something wrong, Mr Weasley?" Luna inquired sweetly, her fingers ceasing all movement over her stomach.

"I don't think so, Mrs Longbottom. Not at this stage, at least. That's why we're here. So why don't we continue? What happened next?"

Relief surged through Neville's body, and he visibly relaxed in his chair, sinking into the cushion. "Well, once we had the string-thing in the sand, we made it move with magic— making sure, of course, that no Muggles saw our wands. But still, it was barely making a ripple—"

"Not very effective, these Muggle gadgets, are they?" Luna mused.

"Well, I er, rather think they are meant to be used on a much smaller scale, Luna," Arthur smiled, calling her by her first name and relieving the room of its last vestige of formality.

"So, er. Well— then we made it bigger, just a little, Mr Weasley. And then it started to make waves in the water... More like a whirlpool, actually..."

"And the children were delighted, sir. Really, they all started to squeal and laugh. To come and investigate. It was wonderful. I do _so_ love to hear children laugh, Mr Weasley. So then, I wanted to make it just a little bigger, so more children could play. But right as I whispered _Engorgio_ , well... our lucky little garden gnome kicked, or maybe it was a hiccup?" Luna canted her head to the side, wondering over the possibility.

"— So the spell went a little awry, sir, and the hand mixer got umm— quite large, and I dropped it in the water. Of course, the spell to keep the err, the err—"

"Mixers?" Arthur prompted.

"Yes, the mixers. Well, it was still active, wasn't it? So the parents, they see this giant hand mixer in the middle of the lake. They were screaming all sorts of things, you understand," Neville waved his hands through the air, hoping to convey the kind of worry that parents experience whenever their children are involved with water and giant electronic devices. 

"We weren't entirely sure what we should do, so we sent a Patronus to Harry, and when he showed up, he called a whole pile of Obliviators. I'm still trying to figure out why, if I'm honest," Luna sighed dreamily, already drifting to her magical mind landscape. 

Neville took her hand and squeezed again, "We've had this conversation, love. The Muggles, they're not used to seeing their devices so big, remember?"

"Oh yes," Luna agreed, coming back to the room. "That's right. I do seem rather forgetful lately, don't I? That's the baby, you know, stealing all my thoughts and learning from them. My mother told me that is what I did to her, too, you see," Luna smiled indulgently at her belly. 

"And after Harry showed up, he and the Obliviators went to work. We returned the hand mixer to its normal size, packed it and ourselves up and went home." Neville shrugged, hoping for nonchalance.

"Yes, right. Well. That does seem to match Harry's account of the event. Right, you're good to go then. Congratulations on the baby, I have no doubt that you will be fantastic parents," Arthur smiled at them, shuffling pieces of parchment into a file absently.

"That's it?" Neville questioned.

"No harm, no foul, Mr Longbottom. I wish you both all the best. I'll be seeing you at young James' birthday party, yes? Molly's making the cake!"

"Yes, we will be there, Mr Weasley. Thank you for the tea, it was quite delicious," Luna said as she pushed to her feet. 

Neville rushed to help his wife and thanked Mr Weasley as they left the office.

Safely inside the lifts, Luna turned to Neville with a wide smile on her face. "It was lovely of Mr Weasley to invite us to tea, wasn't it, dear?"


End file.
